Ladakh Launches Major Tso Kar Lake Revival Project
Glacier Meltwater To Be Channelled Into Shrinking High-Altitude Lake
Ladakh has launched an ambitious ecological restoration project to revive the shrinking Tso Kar Lake by channelising glacier meltwater from the remote Rupshu Kharnak stream in Changthang.
The initiative follows the successful diversion of 90 million litres of Stok Glacier water to parched farmlands near Leh earlier this year and aims to replicate the approach at nearly 15,000 feet above sea level.
Tso Kar, once among Ladakh’s most iconic high-altitude lakes, has shrunk by nearly 70 per cent over the past decade. Spread earlier across nearly 11,000 acres, the lake now occupies barely 3,200 acres, affecting the fragile local ecosystem and reducing the arrival of migratory birds. The black-necked crane, once a prominent symbol of the region’s biodiversity, has also become a rare sight.
Villagers told Lieutenant Governor Vinai Kumar Saxena during his visit on August 10 that the lake’s decline had also erased grazing grounds, forcing Pashmina herders to travel 50 to 75 kilometres from their homes, according to an official statement issued in Leh on Sunday.
The project aims to redirect an average of 132 cusecs, or about 320 million litres a day, of untapped glacier water from the Rupshu Kharnak stream, located 11 kilometres away at an altitude of 18,000 feet. The water currently flows unused into the Sindhu River. Officials estimate that effective channelisation could restore Tso Kar to its original expanse within a year.
Instead of concrete channels, the project will rely on gravity flow and low-cost earthworks. Three natural depressions along the stream’s descent, spanning 270 acres, 24 acres and 10 acres, are being developed into cascading freshwater wetlands.
The depressions will retain water through check dams fitted with RCC pipes, allowing sediments to settle before the water reaches Tso Kar. Together, the three water bodies are expected to store nearly 1.23 billion litres of freshwater and create new wetland ecosystems.
Work began on September 2 ahead of the harsh winter, when temperatures can fall to minus 20 to 30 degrees Celsius. By September 9, engineers had diverted 20 cusecs of glacier water into the first depression through earthen channels and a long-defunct concrete canal built in 1995. Nearly 20 per cent of the depression had filled within four days, the statement said.
The cascading system is expected to provide dual ecological benefits by supplying Tso Kar with cleaner, sediment-free water while creating new wetlands that could attract migratory birds and support tourism. Revival of grasslands around the lake could also help restore traditional grazing grounds and livelihoods for Pashmina herders.
Saxena described the initiative as a blueprint for high-altitude ecological restoration, saying the Stok Glacier project had demonstrated that “large-scale, sustainable water management is entirely feasible in our cold desert, using simple engineering”. Redirecting the Rupshu Kharnak stream, he said, would “bring life back into Tso Kar Lake” and strengthen Ladakh’s long-term climate resilience.
The project emerged from a rapid survey ordered after villagers raised concerns during Saxena’s visit. The Public Health Engineering department had initially proposed an 11-kilometre RCC channel, but Saxena rejected the plan on ecological grounds and favoured natural channels that would blend into the landscape.
If successful, the Tso Kar revival could become one of India’s largest high-altitude lake restoration projects and demonstrate how glacier meltwater can be harnessed to restore fragile ecosystems in Ladakh.
